Prep for Lime Rock 2012

No more oil leaks!

New pushrod pivot bolts...  Who would have thought these would be 8mm on a car that is largely Standard...  Thanks to Richard Pare for the advice and McMaster-Carr for the parts...

Prep for Lime Rock - May 2012

 

Valet Back for Lime Rock






http://f1600series.com/news/519-valet-back-for-lime-rock.html

"“The new kids on the block sure have impressive resumes,” added Valet, “so they won't be lacking for speed. If they can keep mistakes to a minimum they should do very well this season. I’m excited for the series to have such a talented group of F1600 drivers again this year. I said it last year and I'll say it again this year. Finishing in the top ten in this series is tough to do and quite an accomplishment.”

Post repair reassembly - April 2012

Chassis split, surfaces cleaned and new clutch disk in place.

Gearbox and bellhousing assembly complete and ready for reinstallation.  Thankfully my buddy Jeff Phillips stopped by at this point to smoke my cigars and help me get it back down on the floor gracefully.

A little jiggling and persuasion with a floor jack and whoosh - it all slid together nicely.  It looks a lot nicer now that I have gotten an opportunity to clean in some of the 'hard to get to' areas.

Engine subframes in place and almost ready for reinstallation of the rear suspension.  But I decided this was a good time to do a thurough eval of the fastners and rod ends.  So the parts order is in progress, and reassembly will have to wait a day or two more. 

Post VIR Repairs

The O-Ring that seals the input shaft sleeve was obviously "well past it" as my Brit friends like to say.  Wish I had thought to replace that last winter during the original conversion build.

Close up of the input shaft sleeve that passes through the oil tank.  No scrapes or marring, so the the o-ring should do it.

Speaking of the new o-ring here it is safely installed in the bellhousing.  Thanks much to Richard Pare at ICP for helping me figure out the size and part number at McMaster Carr.

Disassembly complete.  Cleaning underway...
Reassembly is just the reverse of disassembly, right?

More VIR 2012 Photos

The "T" car.  Fresh from qualifying. 

Sunday morning pre-qualifying.  We packed up the Citation and as many of the tools and supplies as we dared.  Thanfully qualifying went well, and no last minute thrashing was necessary.
 

 

F1600 Series Offical and general all around good guy Mike 'Purple Frog' Eakin takes advantage of the brief lul in activities to rest on my golf cart and pontificate with the R-Sport crew.

More VIR photos

Intrepid Crew Chief and Engineer Bill Maisey broods over the dinged front suspension - post Koykka incident.

The Citation, now reassembled (less clutch disk) sits despondant ready to go back into the trailer.

Tim Dunn and the R-Sport team occupied Garage #9 next door.  they had this neat gantry lift to put the car back up on high stands after each session.  I am sure it alleviated some of the back strain, and it just looked trick.

Bill Maisey working on the Piper the good old fashioned way - on the garage floor.  Once we got past the first practice session, car work was minimal between sessions.  Thanks to Honda for making the engine a 0 maintenance item at most races.